Ch 6
In a military base camp in Wheaton, New Jersey, Stephanie had to go through three tasks for the training.
The first one was climbing up a rope wall.
Stephanie had only just started when her foot got caught. She then hung upside down and the soldiers laughed but she eventually climbed over it.
The second one was getting through barbed wire by crawling underneath it. Again, she was halfway through when there was another problem. The bully soldier Hodge knocked down the pole and the wire pinned down Stephanie.
"Get that rifle out of the mud!" ordered Sergeant Duffy.
SSR agent Peggy Carter was overlooking the soldiers with Colonel Chester Phillips and Dr. Erskine. Out of all the soldiers, she had never seen more unceasing determination in anyone else but Stephanie.
The last task was running but Stephanie lagged behind further and further.
The end was a very tall flagpole. Hodge was the first to try but he slid back down.
"Nobody's got that flag in seventeen years!" Sergeant Duffy shouted, further discouraging them all except Stephanie.
"Fall in!"
Everyone did except Stephanie.
"Rogers, I said fall in!"
Then Stephanie suddenly realized something and unlocked the lock at the base. All of the soldiers just stood there in shock. She was the first peron ever to get the flag in seventeen years.
Colonel Phillips still didn't think Stephanie would make it since she was slower in the pushups and he thought it was a waste of time. Erskine was the only person who believed in her inside strength.
"Do you know how long it took to set up this project?" Phillips asked. "All the groveling I had to do in Senator What's-His-Name's communities?"
"Brandt, yes, I know. I'm well aware of your efforts." Erskine replied.
"Hodge would be the better pick. He's big, he's fast, he obeys orders, he's a soldier."
"He's a bully."
"You don't win wars with niceness, doctor. You win wars with guts." Then he grabbed a dummy grenade and threw it. The soldiers scattered and ran off but Stephanie sprinted for the grenade, jumped for it, and covered it.
"GET AWAY! Get back!"
After a few minutes, nothing happened. The soldiers sighed in relief.
"It was a dummy grenade."
"Boy, that got me."
Erskine looked at Phillips.
"She's still skinny." he said, then left.
Erskine gave a smile to Stephanie, then walked off.
She was the perfect choice for Project: Rebirth.
